Effect of Human Disturbance on Species Diversity and Soil Physio- chemical Properties of Castanopsis fargesii Secondary Forest

Abstract:

In order to understand the effect of human disturbance on Castanopsis fargesii secondary forest community in Bifengxia, the species diversity and soil physiochemical properties of C. fargesii community under human disturbances at different degree were studied by using typical plots methods. The results showed that there were 148 vascular species in community, belonging to 60 families and 106 genera. With intensifying disturbance, the diversity indices in tree and herb layer increased at first and then declined, and the species diversity in shrub layer was the highest. The dominant species in tree layer were C. fargesii and Cunninghamia lanceolata, and the shrub layer is rich in species with many dominant species, and the dominant species number in herb layer was in the order of middle disturbance > slight disturbance > severe disturbance. There were significant correlation among the contents of soil organic carbon, soil potassium and soil moisture and the level of species diversity (P<0.05). Therefore, it was suggested that the species diversity and soil quality of C. fargesii community in Bifengxia could be promoted under middle disturbance and the contents of soil organic carbon, soil potassium and soil moisture had related significantly with species diversity.

Key words:Human disturbance;Castanopsis fargesii;Species diversity;Physiochemical property;Soil